News

Technology and Distance Learning Symposium (TDLS) 2017 – A Success!

Held on March 10-11, 2017 at the Anaheim Campus of the North Orange Community College District, this year’s event was attended by adult educators and administrators from throughout California. Attendees selected from over 30 technology-focused workshops that ranged from increasing technical skills in a specific software program to how to create and effectively use digital badges with adult learners.

Skills of U.S. Incarcerated Adults: PIAAC Study

This webinar will provide an overview of results from a recently released study called the Program for International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) Prison Study. This study provides information on skills and competencies of incarcerated adults, and compares them to those of adults in U.S. households. The study also includes information on the extent of inmates’ participation in formal education and job training programs.

Adult Education Week, April 2-8, 2017

The purpose of Adult Education Week in California is to draw the attention of the public and of education decision-makers — legislators, school board members, your superintendent, city officials, etc. — to the programs at your school that benefit the community. The idea is to enhance your school’s credibility and publicly demonstrate its value. All of which will require promotion and media support.

National Conference of State Legislatures Creates Searchable Database for Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act Legislation

The National Conference of State Legislatures recently launched a searchable database, a result of activity across legislatures in all states following the 2014 passage of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA). The database contains legislation enacted in state legislatures during the 2015 session. Included are issues related to WIOA implementation, such as sector strategies, career pathways, adult education, career and job training, work-based learning, pay-for-performance initiatives, state plan and/or governance issues, and general workforce legislation. . Interested individuals are encouraged to visit NCSL database website to conduct a detailed or state-by-state search.

Three Integrated EL Civics (English Literacy and Civics Education) conferences will be held in 2017. The first one serves the Central Valley and will convene on January 20th at the Bakersfield Adult School. The Southern California conference will be held on February 3rd at the Vista Adult School. The third conference serves Northern California and will be held at the Santa Clara Adult School. The link to the flyer for all three conferences is provided. OTAN handouts for presentations at all 3 events are available online .

National Skills Coalition: Foundational Skills in the Service Sector

Across the United States, millions of men and women with limited reading, math, or digital problem-solving skills are holding down jobs across the service sector. Employed in retail shops and restaurants, hotels and hospitals, these workers not only help fuel the country’s economy — they keep daily life in America humming smoothly along. In the course of their jobs, these workers often need to read vital directions, follow safety protocols, calculate prices, supervise colleagues, and oversee budgets. All of these tasks are made dramatically more challenging for workers who don’t have strong literacy or numeracy skills. Many resort to creative work-arounds in an attempt to compensate for their lack of skills, but others struggle in silence. Their skill gaps carry heavy consequences for themselves, their co-workers, their employers, and our society as a whole.

March's New Web-based Class Activity!

In the March 2017 Web-based activity article, Kristi Reyes refers the six-step approach to teach vocabulary by Dr. Robert Marzano, a direct instruction process that begins with the teacher introducing a term. Subsequent activities are designed to expose students to newly-learned vocabulary multiple times, thus reinforcing their comprehension of new words. The final step of the process gives students the opportunity to apply the vocabulary they have learned in games.

Kristi goes on to describe some useful sites for creating customized games with the vocabulary you are teaching your students. These online tools include Sugarcane, Educaplay, Quizizz, eQuizShow, Flip Quiz. Find many more online tools and resources for teaching and practicing vocabulary in this March Web-based Activity article.

OTAN offers a wide variety of no-cost, hands-on, three-hour workshops. We will come to your school if you have at least 10 interested participants and an approved lab. If you have a smaller school and need more participants, consider coordinating with other small schools in your area to fill your workshop. If there is a technology topic not listed that your staff needs assistance with, let us know and we will discuss creating a new workshop to meet that need. Here are some of our workshop titles: